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Riverdance
Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting mainly of traditional Irish music and dance. Featuring Irish Dancing Champions Jean Butler and Michael Flatley, and with a score composed by Limerick native Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval performance during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994. Shortly afterwards husband and wife production team John McColgan and Moya Doherty expanded it into a stage show, which opened in Dublin on 9 February 1995. At Eurovision 1994 Riverdance was first performed during the 7-minute interval of the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 at the Point Theatre, Dublin on 30 April 1994. It received a very large standing ovation. Later that year, the BBC, the broadcaster for the United Kingdom, commissioned a repeat performance of the act for the 1994 Royal Variety Show, when it was introduced on stage by Sir Terry Wogan. This first performance featured Irish Dancing Champions Jean Butler and Michael Flatley, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and the Celtic choral group Anúna with a score written by Bill Whelan. Most of the show's choreography was done by Flatley. Success after Eurovision The Riverdance single topped the Irish charts immediately after the contest (holding off the 1994 Eurovision winning song Rock 'n' Roll Kids) and stayed there for 18 straight weeks. The success of the Eurovision interval show led John McColgan and Moya Doherty to consider how to develop the piece. They decided to produce and direct a stage show, expanding the Eurovision piece and Bill Whelan's composition. In November 1994 tickets were sold in Dublin for the first full-length performance of Riverdance, which opened at the Point Theatre on 9 February 1995. The show starred the original lead dancers from the Eurovision spot and ran for five weeks and was a sell-out with ticket sales of over 120,000. On 8 May 1995 Riverdance performed at the Royal Gala 50th Anniversary of VE Day celebrations at the special invitation of Prince Charles. This attracted a television audience of 20 million. A video release of Riverdance occurred in the UK on 5 June 1995 which immediately debuted at #2 before rising to #1 the following week. For a total of seven months the Riverdance UK video remained in the charts and became the all-time highest selling music video in the UK. During the second half of 1995, Riverdance performed a four-week season at The Apollo at Hammersmith before returning to the Point Theatre Dublin for another six-week sellout season before again returning to The Apollo at Hammersmith for another six-week season which again was a sell out, despite a casting change when Colin Dunne replaced Flatley in the male lead role 21 hours before the show opened. Riverdance also performed at Royal College of Music, London in the presence of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother; Queen Elizabeth II; and Princess Margaret on 17 July 1995. After successful runs in other cities in Europe, Riverdance traveled to New York City to perform at the legendary Radio City Music Hall in March 1996. This was the first time the show had been performed in America. To the relief of the producers, the show was a success with 14 March 1996 marking the start of an eight-week sell out season at Radio City Music Hall. The sales of merchandise resulted in the Radio City Music Hall merchandise sales record being smashed during the first performance of Riverdance. Anúna left the show in September of that year. The soundtrack of the show won a Grammy Award in 1997 for Best Musical Show Album. The original Dublin show first aired on PBS in the United States in 1997 and was frequently re-aired during local stations' pledge drives due to massive popular demand. In 1998, a performance from the second New York run was aired on Canadian channel CBC. It also spawned two documentary specials: Riverdance: A Journey, about the history and evolution of the show, and Riverdancers: The Bad Boy and The Hometown Girl, following two members of the original Lagan touring company, Kerry Houston and Joel Hanna. Later cast members of the show returned to the Eurovision world in both 2005 and 2015 for the Congratulations and Eurovision's Greatest Hits specials to celebrate the contest's 50th and 60th anniversaries respectively, the former naming it the greatest Eurovision interval act of all time. It marked its 25th anniversary on 30 April 2019. List of dancers involved in the 1994 interval *'Jean Butler' *'Michael Flatley' *Dearbhail Bates *Lorna Bradley *Kelly Byrne *Sabrina Carty *Andrea Curley *Breandán De Gallaí *Kathleen Doohan *Susan Ginnety *Andrea Kelly *Eileen Martin *Maeve McCarty *Kevin McCormack *Ronan McCormack *Belinda Murphy *Lorcan Murphy *Areleen Ní Bhaoill *Niamh O'Brien *Emer O'Grady *Colm Ó Se *Cormac Ó Se *Dara O'Shea *Joan Rafter *Lucia Rafter *Tracey Taaffe List of Drummers *Tony Nolan *Andrew Reilly *Darren Smith *Derrick Tallon Members of Anúna *Katie McMahon (Lead soprano) *Michael McGlynn (Director) *Miriam Blennerhassett *Richard Boyle *Sarah Clancy *David Clarke *Tony Daveron *Monica Donlon *Caron Hannigan *Peter Harney *Emer Lang *Máire Lang *John McGlynn *Maireád Ní Fhaoláin *Tara O'Beirne *Garrath Patterson Trivia *Composer Bill Whelan has two prior ties to Eurovision. He was the producer of the recording of What's Another Year which won in 1980, and he composed the music for the interval act "Timedance" in 1981 (which he also performed as part of the band Planxty). *One of the venues the production performed at prior to their return to New York in the fall of 1996 was the Green Glens Arena in Millstreet, where the 1993 contest took place. *Moya Doherty was the producer of the 1994 contest in Dublin. *Since 1996, every touring company of the show has a name derived from an Irish river. The three original companies were named the Liffey (which toured Europe), the Lee (the eastern US, Canada and Australia) and the Lagan (western Canada, western and southern US). *Anna Kearney, who represented Ireland at the Junior Eurovision contest in 2019, is the daughter of original troupe member Eileen Martin. Category:Eurovision Song Contest 1994 Category:20th Century Eurovision Category:Interval Acts Category:Ireland